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3D printing goes big with help of Loveland's Aleph and Denver store

By Andy Vuong The Denver Post

Posted:
02/04/2013 12:01:00 AM MST

Loveland-based Aleph Objects develops and manufactures a line of rapid prototyping 3-D printers. The new LulzBot printer is making a flower vase that stands about 8 inches tall. (Photos by Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)

Finally, 3-D is ready for prime time.

Not the technology that requires eyeglasses to experience, but the kind that enables consumers to make their own iPhone cases at home and startups to inexpensively manufacture prototypes in-house.

Tracing its roots back nearly four decades, 3-D printing is gaining wider adoption as costs have dropped dramatically in recent years.

And Colorado has its fingerprints all over the technology.

Aleph Objects, a Loveland-based startup founded in 2011, has already sold hundreds of its desktop 3-D printers to businesses and hobbyists at prices ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 — a fraction of the $20,000 price tag that some high-end machines still carry.

Denver is home to one of the nation's first 3-D printing retail stores, where consumers can pick from thousands of digital designs of household items and gadgets and watch as they're produced via a process known as additive manufacturing.

Colleges and high schools along the Front Range, including Colorado State University and Mountain View High School in Loveland, are integrating 3-D printers into classrooms and courses.

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"It's just amazing because the students can design something, and boom, before you know it, they have a 3-D model of it right in front of them," said Tom Frayer, a teacher at Mountain View.

A typical desktop 3-D printer is roughly the size of a microwave and weighs about 20 pounds. It prints, or manufactures, three-dimensional objects with materials such as ABS plastic, the same type of material used to make Legos.

The plastic filament is fed through a tube connected to the machine's printhead, which then extrudes it onto a build plate, layer by layer, at temperatures of about 230 degrees Celsius, or roughly 445 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Now that they're under $2,000, it's not unreasonable for people to buy them for their home," said Beth Stade, a research associate with the University of Colorado's Center for STEM Learning. "What's not obvious is, 'How does it fit into the curriculum?' "

Using a portion of a $2 million National Science Foundation grant, the CU research team recently purchased a pair of Aleph's LulzBot 3-D printers. One is headed for Platt Middle School in Boulder as part of a pilot project.

"The neat thing about 3-D printing is you can do things that are useful and design something that you really need, like a broken part, or you can do a class project where everybody makes something different but the goal is for all of the pieces to fit together," she said. "Our challenge is to take it from this gee-whiz cool demo and say, 'What are some scientific properties that we can look at?' "

The digital design, or the instructions for the printer, can be created via freely available programs such as FreeCAD. Thousands of designs can be downloaded at no cost at Thingiverse.com, which is run by leading 3-D printing company MakerBot.

Major electronics manufacturers are joining the party, with Nokia recently releasing a digital design so consumers can print their own cases for the Lumia 820 smartphone.

"Those companies are now starting to push the designs out, and that'll give people more motivation to have these machines," said Jeff Moe, Aleph's chief executive. "This is just the beginning of the trend."

For appliance and other manufacturers, the adoption of 3-D printers could simplify the parts-replacements process, Moe said. They could simply release a design for the broken part and have the consumer print it out at home.

At its Loveland headquarters, Aleph has about 40 LulzBots, each printing parts that are used to build the 3-D printers themselves. The machines, which retail for $1,725, can create objects that are up to 8 inches in length and width and 4 inches in height.

Aleph's next generation printer, dubbed the TK-0, will take those dimensions up to 12-by-12-by-11. It is an open-source machine, meaning anyone can download component designs to build their own 3-D printer.

A 5-pound spool of ABS plastic — which can create hundreds of objects — costs $100. Other printable materials include nylon, PLA plastic and wood.

Moe said broader adoption beyond hobbyists and tech geeks is not far away as the software to create digital designs gets easier to use and the price continues to drop.

"I think we're getting really close to that price point," he said, adding that the company has shipped printers and parts to 59 countries.

If $1,700 is still a little steep, consumers can visit The 3D Printing Store, 4603 Monaco St., to experience the 3-D manufacturing process. The store is teaming with Aleph on a 3-D open house on Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m., where a half dozen 3-D printers will be in action.

The time it takes to print an object ranges from a few minutes for a business-card holder or nut and bolt to several hours for a complex replica of a building. The machines are capable of printing items with moving parts, such as a wagon with wheels.

"I don't think most people understand 3-D printing," said Debra Wilcox, a principal at The 3D Printing Store. "That's why we wanted to open a store where you can go in and actually use a machine to print something."

The store, open by appointment, features two of MakerBot's $2,200 Replicator 2 desktop printers and a uPrint machine that cost $20,000. The latter has a clear case covering the build chamber and can print at a much higher resolution, creating smoother objects.

"The 3-D gun is a bit of a misnomer," said Kenton Kuhn, another principal at the 3-D store, adding that the gun would still require some sort of metal component to work.

The store won't print any weapons. Kuhn and Wilcox are contemplating hosting events similar to Canvas and Cocktails, but instead of painting, patrons would pay $40 to $50 to design custom smartphone cases while enjoying a beverage.

3D printing store open house

What: Aleph Objects and The 3D Printing Store will have six 3-D printers on display and in action, providing visitors a glimpse at a product some say will eventually become ubiquitous.

When: Thursday, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Where: 4603 Monaco St. in Denver (second door on north side of building). Located in warehouse district just north of I-70 on Monaco Street.

Cost: Free to attend. Most of the items that will be printed, such as business- card holders and bracelets, cost less than $1 in materials to make. Prices on large or more complex items, such as smartphone cases or building replicas, will vary.

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